


What She Needed

by ealamusings



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 06:22:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8239192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ealamusings/pseuds/ealamusings
Summary: Katniss has had plenty of experience being the new girl in school. But that doesn't mean that the first day of her junior year in high school will be easy. All she wants is to survive the day, but when a boy with smiling, blue eyes takes the seat next to her on the school bus, she begins to learn how precious friendship and love can be.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Submitted to everlarkbirthdaydrabbles on tumblr. :-)
> 
> Thank you hugs to finduilasnumenesse for betaing. <3!

**What She Needed**

The first time they met was aboard the school bus. It was the beginning of her junior year in high school, and her stomach was in knots. Katniss was the new girl in town once again— her family moved around a lot— so she kept her head down and tried to be invisible. If she could avoid drawing attention, she might survive the day.

The bus brakes screeched, the door folded open, and she felt someone slide in beside her, filling the empty space she’d tried her best to guard against intrusion. Katniss scowled, but a quick look up revealed the bus was full. She glanced beside her and saw a boy with ashy blond waves and the loveliest blue eyes. He gave her a shy smile.

She didn’t smile back. It was safer to be wary when you were the new kid. Plus, she was distracted by his pale eyelashes— lit up by the sun pouring in the window— which seemed impossibly long. They didn’t speak to each other. She was grateful for that— even at the best of times, Katniss wasn’t great at conversation.

The next day the boy with the smiling, blue eyes claimed the seat next to her again. She decided he was a better seatmate than the other, more obnoxious kids that rode her bus. This time he introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Peeta. You’re new here, aren’t you?”

She resisted rolling her eyes at the obvious, because he seemed nicer than most.

When she told him her name, he smiled and said, “I know. We’re in some of the same classes.”

She didn’t want to make small talk— she preferred to be left alone— but she couldn’t help appreciate his presence anyway. He made the bus rides more tolerable.

Katniss wasn’t very good at fitting in. She’d always been a loner— awkward and prickly. Her family never stayed long enough in one spot for her to learn how to be good at friends. It was difficult to partake in the easy banter that came so easily to other teenage girls. It was better to say nothing than say something stupid and risk the condescending, judgmental looks. Besides, her family could move on at any time. So what was the point of trying?

Despite the fact that they shared a seat on the bus everyday, she and Peeta hardly said a word to each other. Though she suspected that he would’ve liked to talk, she didn’t want to, so she mostly read her books. Respecting her wishes, he would read, too. It was comfortable.

Katniss hadn’t wanted her world to be torn apart late that October when they learned her father was dying from a malignant illness. She’d always been a daddy’s girl, and he was the strong one who made her, her little sister, and her mother feel safe. She couldn’t concentrate in school and was at risk of failing some of her classes.

Katniss wasn’t looking for a friend— she wanted her father to get better— but Peeta slipped into the role anyway. It happened subtly, starting with his insistence on being her study partner at lunchtime, and eventually after school, too, even though she didn’t ask. Thanks to his persistence and encouragement, she made it through the first semester of her junior year.

Peeta scraped together enough money to buy an old car, and he would swing by her home and drive her to school so she didn’t have to ride the bus. He offered to take her little sister to her school, too. And, as her father’s health worsened and her family’s life turned into chaos, he ran errands and brought home bread, pies, and muffins from the bakery where he worked part time.

Katniss was scared. But it was in those dark weeks that she realized what a steadying force Peeta was— not only for her but for her entire family. Katniss’s whole world was occupied by her family and the worries that they bore. She did her best to be strong, but Peeta provided an anchor she could grasp ahold of as her father slipped away from them. They laid him in the ground on a cold, drizzly spring day. But Peeta stayed. His warm arms were there to comfort her, and Katniss felt safer when he was around.

One afternoon, as they were driving home from the library after studying for final exams, Katniss realized she’d been so caught up in her own fears and pain that she knew next to nothing about Peeta. She’d never been to his home or met any of his family. She was embarrassed that they had known each other almost a full year and she hadn’t really bothered to get to know him beyond what he did for her and her family.

The questions poured out. “Peeta? Why don’t you talk about your family? What are they like? You spend so much time helping me and my family, and it means more than I can say. But, why are you so nice to me when I give you so little in return?”

He chewed on his bottom lip, and tiny lines creased his forehead. He sucked in a breath and pulled over to the side of the road. With the car in park, he turned to her and laid a hand over hers.

“I know what it’s like to be the new kid, Katniss,” he began. “I moved here the year before you. And I know what it’s like to lose someone you love, too. My family ran our own bakery, and we lived upstairs. One evening, when I was fourteen, everybody— my parents, my two older brothers— was in bed because of our early morning bakery hours, but I was at wrestling practice. There was a gas leak, and my family died when it exploded.”

Katniss gasped and grasped his hand. “Oh, Peeta. I’m so sorry! All this time, I’ve been busy thinking only about myself, and you’ve been suffering, too.”

He gave her a sad smile, a hidden world of unspoken thoughts in his eyes. “It helps to help others.”

Katniss frowned as a new question dawned on her. “But, who do you live with now?”

Peeta sat back in his seat and stared at the road. “They couldn’t find any relatives who’d take me in— we weren’t close to any of them— so I’ve been living with foster families.”

He described being shuffled around, moving from place to place— just like she had— until ending up in his current home.

“They’re okay, but I feel like an outsider,” he said. “They don’t really want me.” He inhaled a deep breath and sat up straight. “When I graduate, I’m going to save up enough money to buy my own bakery.” He smiled at her and added, “You can have all the cheese buns you want.” He knew they were her favorite.

Katniss stretched across the center console of the car and hugged him.

“It’s nice to be needed,” he murmured against her hair, causing a strange flutter in her belly.

*****

Katniss’s senior year could have destroyed her. The best her mother could come up with was a low wage job. That would have been hard enough, but Katniss also watched as her mother closed in on herself— lost and consumed by depression. Katniss knew that it was up to her to be the strong one, to help them get by. But how?

She didn’t want to be pitied for her poverty, but Peeta offered something else— a job. He recommended her to his boss at the bakery. It wasn’t just the extra cash that helped. It gave her confidence. It told her that she and her sister would survive no matter how much their mother withdrew from them. Katniss didn’t want to owe anybody, but the way Peeta helped her out made her believe she could stand on her own.

After their talk on the side of the road, they opened up more to each other. Peeta was easy to talk to. He made the pain of losing her father more bearable. And she tried to do the same for him. They studied, met up in the cafeteria for lunch every day, worked together at the bakery. They helped take care of her family’s needs as her mother struggled to cope.

Soon, there were movies and hikes in the woods, stargazing and musings about the state of the world. Peeta never made her feel stupid for the things she said. He made her feel smart and more hopeful about the future. One day, Katniss realized that she felt more connected to life when she and Peeta talked and shared things.

She hadn’t wanted a _best_ friend. She’d thought life was complicated enough. But the boy with the smiling, blue eyes became hers anyway. She worried about it though. They’d lived in this town longer than most of the previous places. What if they had to move away? How could she say good-bye? But the months went by, and she was able to ignore her fears.

Katniss _definitely_ didn’t want a _boyfriend_. It was one thing to have a trusted friend whom she cared deeply about, but that kind of love was a risk she couldn’t afford. She saw the devastation that love had brought her mother— how she moved through life like a creature from one of the zombie flicks she and Peeta watched sometimes. Life became a frightening burden when it broke your heart. It was hard enough surviving as it was.

Peeta asked her to senior prom—as a _friend_ , mind you— but, when he showed up looking so handsome and nervous, gazing at her as if she was the most radiant creature on the planet in her secondhand dress— with fabric in his favorite fiery shades of the sunset— her heart did a little backflip. Her mouth went dry as he pinned the corsage— katniss flowers tied with a green ribbon, matching his boutonnière— above her heart, and she couldn’t stop covertly glancing at him in his rented tux on the drive to the celebration.

He held out his hand for the first dance, and, when she felt his strong arms holding her close as they swayed to the music while rainbow lights twinkled around them, she wondered how she’d managed to live without this for so long.

But _this_ wasn’t what she wanted, she told her reflection in the bathroom mirror. After the second captivating slow dance, she’d excused herself, wanting a moment alone to try and sort out the mess of emotions churning inside. Maybe she could make an exception for the handholding and warm embraces? She licked her lips. Or even a light kiss or two? Peeta never seemed to pressure for more, which made her feel safe to accept those small tokens of affection.

But love didn’t seek her consent anymore than the sun asks to rise in the morning. Love snuck up on her anyway.

Katniss never wanted to feel the hunger, but, when it happened to her, it demanded to be sated like newly sprouted blossoms thirst for spring rain. There was no one else she trusted more. During the precious time she’d spent with Peeta, she’d bared her heart and soul, which made it so easy, so natural, to bare her body, too. To trust. To explore. To savor. To give everything back to the boy with the smiling, blue eyes who had grown so entwined in her life. They took that step the same way they’d done everything else— together.

Under a golden sun and clear blue sky, beside a favorite pond in which they’d fished and swam over the years, her body bloomed as his warm fingers caressed her supple breasts, coaxing her budding nipples. She gasped as they slipped between her thighs, and then inside, stirring a pleasure that burst forth from her lungs as an impassioned cry of joy.

With a tentative touch, she took him in her hand and discovered her own power. If he was the sun with his warm rays awakening her desire and feeding her hungry heart, then she was the moon controlling the tides as he swept onto her welcoming shore. She fondled and stroked and made him groan. She drew him in, gasping as the first wave filled her. With gentle kisses and tender whispers, he begged her forgiveness, but she hushed him with her lips.

She wanted the rhythmic thrust and retreat— smooth as liquid and relentless as the ocean caressing the land. Her fingers tugged on his blond curls, her hands ran over his muscular back and gripped his tantalizing ass, tugging him closer, deeper. He grunted and gasped and eagerly offered himself to her, just like he always had ever since the first day they’d met.

Their bodies raced to the peak, and Katniss was enthralled as her body made him fall apart, crashing and spilling as she soaked up his love. She understood then how much she would forever after crave the sound and sight— _the entirety_ — of their shared ecstasy.

Peeta banished the darkness from the lonely, guarded places inside her with his love. She had never wanted to feel this vulnerable, had never believed she could feel this invincible. She thought she only wanted to survive the life fate had given— that it would be enough.

But that barren life wasn’t what she wanted anymore. Peeta had given her the courage and faith to believe that life could be so much more. She couldn’t imagine how she could survive without him.

As the lusty waves of passion diminished, and a peaceful contentment seeped through her whole being, Katniss understood that she’d given something precious to Peeta, too. She felt it in the way his arms held her so tightly and in the reverent way his lips never left her skin, whispering how much he loved her.

When his family died, and he’d been passed along from home to home, there hadn’t been anyone who’d wanted him, or needed him. Or loved him. Until she had. She had given him what he needed.

And, in return, she had found exactly what she needed, too.


End file.
